Twisted knot for securing shipping packages



med March 29, 119223 Imm/bow Ala J Gerrard Palrin Wjh Patented July 22,1924.

UNITED STATESl ALEC J'. GERRARD AND PARWN WRIGHT, OF CHIC-AGO,ILLINOIS..

rwrs'rEn xNoT ron sEcuRING sHIPPmG PAcxaGEs.

Application filed March 29, 19.23. Serial No. 628,592.

To all whom z'zf may concern.'

Be it known that we, ALEC fJ. GERRARD and PARVIN WRIGHT, respectively a'subject of the King of Great Britain anda citizen'of 'the UnitedStates, both residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Imrovements in TwistedAKnots for Securing hipping Packages; and we dol hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the,invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

' This invention relates to twisted4 knots formed by wire tying machinesin the act of banding ackages, while the wire is under tension, and)has'for its object to provide a knot in which the twisted ends are notonly cut off short at each extremity of the knot, but are also tuckeddown alongside the adjacent wire bights and below the top surfaces ofthe same.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel details of construction and combinations of parts more fullyhereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecication, in which like numerals designate like parts in alltheviews:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a twistedknot made in accordance with thisinvention;

Figure 2 isa diagrammatic partially sectional view illustrating theconstruction of one extremity of the twisted portion of the knot shownin Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Figure 2,lookingin the direc; tion of the arrows;

Fi e 4 is a view similar to Figure 2, llilowing the other'extremity ofthe twisted Ot. v

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4, lookingin the direction of the arrows;

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic perspective View; of a portion of the machineadapted Ato make the knot shown in Figure 1, and eX- plaining theconstruction of said knot; and

Figure 7 is a sectional View of a portion of the machine adapted toinakethe knot of Figure 1, and serving to still further explain thedifferences between this knot and those which have preceded the same.

In order that the precise invention may be the more clearly understood,it is said: As is well known knots of the character herein disclosed aremade of steel wire, and if the extreme ends of the severed wire areallowed to project up beyond the top surfaces of their adjacent bightsof the wire, they form veritable chisel points whichwillnot only tearthehands and clothin .of the stevedores and other freight han lers, butwill also rip open other packages that may be slid over saidpointsduring shipment. It is also well known that inventors have for yearsstriven to avoid these objections by various devices 'which have greatlyimproved the situatiombut never prior to this invention, in' so far aswe are aware, has

anyone succeeded in making. a knot that has the advantages and safetyfeatures of the one about to be disclosed.

In order that the diii'erencesbetween this knot and thel rior knots maybe rendered more clear, re erence is first had to Figures 6 and 7, inwhich 1 'represents the frame of a machine made the subject of ourcepending application Serial No.v 628,591 filed March 29, 1923, .andentitled Wire-tying machine. 2 represents a-wire holding ost having aslot 3 adapted to receive paral el bights 4 and -5 of the wire, but notlarge enough to permitsaid bights to 'be twisted' therein. 6 and 7represent slots suiiiciently large to permit said bights to be twistedtogether,

while 8 and9 represent slots too small to permit said twisting action.In practice the end of bight 5 is suitably secured in slot 3,

and said bight 5 is then disposed successively in slots 6, 8, 7 and 9,whence it passes around the package not shown, and is brought back asbight 4 to slot 3 and disposed as bight 4 successively in said yslots 6,8, 7 and 9, whence it is carried to a tensioning meansv and thetwoparallel. bights 4 and 5 placed under a .considerable strain. Afterthe desired tension has been placed on the bights 4 and 5 the twistingelement 31 provided with the slot'8 is rotated a predetermined number oftimes which has lthe effect of twisting together those portions'of' theparallel disposed bights which occupy the slots 6 and 7 all as isdisclosed in our said copending application above mentioned.

But as intimated above,.if the ends of the twisted knot are permitted tostick up above the surfaces of the untwisted portions 4 and of thetwisted knot, the above machine is .provided with cutters 10 and 11,inclined to the vertical as shown in Figure 6, which are provided withcutting edges 12 and 13 respectively, and each cutting edge isassociated with a beveled friction surface such as 14 and l5.'

By referring to Figure 2, it will be observed that the bight 4 ispositioned in the slot 3 and that the lower edge 16 of said slotconstitutes an anvil or cutter for the bight 5 which before the cuttingaction occupies the dotted line position shown. It will be furtherobserved` that the cutting edge 12 of the cutter 10 descends upon thebight 5 and coacting with the anvil edge 16 severs said bight 5 whensaid .edge 12 reaches a plane such as 17 located above said edge 16.That is, the edge 16 cutsa portion of the bight 5 and the edge 12 cutsanother portion, so if the cutter 10 were withdrawn immediately upon thecompletion of this severing action, the severed end 2O of the wireinstead of occupying its full line position shown in Figures 2 and-3would occupy the dotted line position of bight 5 indicated in saidfigures.

That is to say, the said severed end 20 would not b'e tucked down belowthe top surface of the bight 4 as it' is in practice, and` consequentlyit would be liable to spring up above the surface of the bight 4 andthus tear the hands of the operators and to rip open other packages inthe manner above disclosed.

rllhis invention, however, as above stated, has the cutter 10, which inaddition to the cutting edge 12 is provided with an extended frictionalbeveledportion 14, and the cam 21 operating said cutter has a sufficientthrow to cause said cutting edge 12 as indicated in Figures 2 and 3 todescend well down beyond the plane 17 in which the wire is completelysevered and to thus cause its fric tional surface 14 to bear heavilyupon the extreme end 2O of thev severed wire and to thus bend it downand, permanently set it into the position shown in Figure 2, which iswell below the top surface of the bight 4.

4In fact, the downward movement of the cutter 10 is suiicient for thesurface 14 to' rub off or to pinch off a noticeable portion of themetaland thus to form the flat surface such-as 23in the extreme end 20 of`the severed wire as illustrated. So great twist so that the pitch ofthe twist at this particular extremity of the twisted knot is greatlyincreased as indicated, and therefore there is no danger of this saidend 20 being bent back in such a position that it could stick up to tearthe hands of the freight handlers or to injure other boxes 'that may beslid thereover.

Coming to the' other extremity of the twisted knot illustrated inFigures 4 and 5, the cutter 12 coacting withthe cutting anvil edge 25formed by the lower portion of the fslot 9 effects the severings of thebight 4,

in a plane which may be indicated by the dotted line 26, and the cuttingedge 13 of said cutterll is caused by the cam 27 to descend well below'said' plane 26 and thus is the extended-beveled surface 15 of the Icutter 17 caused to rub against the severed end 28 of the twisted strandof the knot, and to bend the same down against the twist of the knotfrom the dotted line position` shown in Figures 4 and 5, vto the fullline position shown in said figures. rlhat is to say, the saidfrictional beveled face 15 ofthe cutter 11 contacts with the point 30 ofthe extreme end 28 and rubs olf or pinches ofi' a portion of the metalas indicated, with such a force that the extreme end 28 is visiblyuntwisted to a degree sufficient to permanently set said extreme end 28well down below the top surface of the companion the finished knots wellbelow the horizontal.

diameters of their companion bights 4 and 5 when the knot is in place onshipping packages. often so pronounced that said end actually -liessubstantially underneath the bight 5 instead of well below itshorizontal diameter as indicated in Figure 5. Since the inner ends ofthe slots 3 and 9 mark sharply the extremities of the twisted knot, andsince the cutters 10 and 11 sever in the vertical planes marking theseextremities, it is evident that no extra lengths of wire are left at theends of the twisted knot at all which can be through accident or designturned up to injure the operators or other packages in the manner abovedisclosed. Therefore, this knot unquestionably marks a distinct advanceover all prior knots of like nature. Further, it is found that wire ofunusually large size can be employed in making this knot, so that veryheavy packages weighing The action as regards the end 28 is rsoaoaa oneor Amore tons can be banded with these knots without in the leastendangering the operatives or other packages which may be slidthereover.'

What we claim is:

l. A knot adapted to be formed by a Wire tying machine composed of apair of bights of a wire twisted together and when Ain position on apackage having the eXtreme ends of the twisted strands severed 'at theextremities of the twisted knot and said severed ends bent downand'permanently set below the top surfaces of the untwist'ed strands.

2. A knot for banding shipping containers consisting of a pair ofbight-s of a wire twisted together with the extreme ends of the twistedstrands cut off close to the twisted extremities of the-finished knotand bent down with a permanent set below the top surfaces of theiradjacent bights when in creasing the saineD 3. A knot for bandingshipping containers, consisting of a pair of bights of a wire twistedtogether with the extreme ends of' 'the twisted strands cut oit vcloseto the twisted extremities of the finished knot and bent down with apermanent set below the horizontal diameters of their adj aeent bightswhen in operative positions on said' containers, the set of one of saidends increasing the twist and the set of the other of said endsdecreasin the same.

In testimony whereof We aix our signatures.

ALE@ J. GERRARD. PARVIN WRlGHT.

